Guardian News and Media, the publisher of the Guardian and Observer
newspapers, is to announce job losses in the coming days.

The job cuts, which follow a voluntary redundancy programme, will be made alongside the company publishing losses of about £45m in the financial year to the end of March. The result, compares with a £43.8m loss in the previous year, despite cost cutting.

Alan Rusbridger, the editor of the Guardian, has called a series of “strategy briefings” with all of the company’s staff next week. It is understood that, for now, he will be able to avoid compulsory redundancies. The National Union of Journalists has an agreement with the company that ensures no compulsory redundancies are enforced, though senior executives believe that position is increasingly untenable.

It unveiled cuts last year aimed at saving £25m. This included scrapping many of its separate supplements, including its separate sports section on most week days. But the cost of opening the Guardian’s New York operation has compounded a continuing slide in print advertising sales. The losses will further erode its £200m cash pile.

Andrew Miller, chief executive of GNM's parent company, Guardian Media Group, is reported to have raised the prospect of moving the paper from its "Berliner" format to a tabloid publication in order to save money.